Movies

The best source of movie information on the Web is The Internet Movie Database http://www.imdb.com.  It will answer all of your film questions and also show you trailers for most recent films.

I love watching movie trailers.  Most new films publisher their trailers at http://www.apple.com/trailers/.  You will need to install a free player, Quicktime, to watch the previews and you will also need a broadband connection to fully enjoy the previews in HD.  I watch all of my movie previews at Apple.com.  (New 5/09)

DVD rental

I've tried them all and Netflix is the best.  They have the best selection and the best turn around times of any of the other DVD rental services on the Web.  In one month we rented more than 20 DVDs through Netflix for a flat fee.  If you are interested in signing up for Netflix, send me an email and I will send you a free month invitation from Netflix (subject to availability).

I'm now using the Roku player to download and watch content from Netflix.  So far, I am greatly impressed with the image quality, convenience, and price.   (New 5/09)

Music 

My favorite streaming online music resources are in order of preference:

1. Accuradio.com.  Accujazz.com, a subset of Accuradio.com is my favorite Jazz station on the Web.  
2. iTunes.com.  Although iTunes is designed as a for pay music resource, there is a great deal of free content.  The iTunes podcast option works great.  I have hundreds of podcasts collected in iTunes.  Highly recommended.  (New 5/09)
3. Last.fm.com.  Last.fm is unique among the other sources listed here in that it has intelligence built into it.  This intelligence assists you in finding music that you may not know about, but matches your aesthetic interests. 
4. Live365.com.  Like Shoutcast.com Live356 has many stations covering a wide range of music genres.  Unfortunately, some of these stations are not free.  A monthly subscription to Shoutcast.com unlocks the fee-based stations.  Even so, there are a great many free stations worth a listen.  Like Shoutcast.com, Live 365 also invites listeners to become broadcasters.  With competition from Shoutcast.com it is hard to see how Live365 can compete.  They also seem to have technical issues more often than other services. 
5. Loudcity.com.  A large selection of music genres are available at Loudcity.com.  I use this resource when I want to listen to Radio Dismuke which is a collection of vintage popular music.
6. Magnatune.  The quality of the music found at Magnatune is step above most stations. (New 5/09)
   

   Danza D Amore by Amelia Cuni

   Trad by Barry Phillips

   The Airs of Wales by Cheryl Ann Fulton

    
7. Microsoft Media Player Radio Tuner.  Assuming that you are using the Windows operating system, open the Microsoft Media player and select radio tuner.  Type in a genre and you will be shown a list of stations.  The classification is not entirely accurate, so don't be surprised if you find an Indiana radio station when you type in India.  Some of the stations require that their home page be opened and then you have to select the play music option.  Some of those stations are loaded with commercials.  Not recommended.
8. Real Network.  To use the Real Player, you will need to download their Real Player from Real.com.  Be cautious when you navigate the Real Network Web site.  They want you to buy a commercial version of the Real Player.  You have to look carefully to find the free download.  One the Real Player is loaded, you will be able to listen to a wide range of music sources on the Web.  The Real Player radio tuner has free and fee-based channels.  The free channels are good and similar to the ones available through Microsoft's Media player.
9. Shoutcast.com. Thousands of free stations.  The sound quality is excellent.  The range of contemporary, ethnic, and other genre stations is amazing.  If you want to get involved, you can set up your own station on Shoutcast.

Ethnic Music Resources on the Web

Afghanistan

• RanaFM.  Broadcast from Kandahar.  (New 5/09)

Indian music

A huge collection of Indian Carnatic music.  

• http://www.carnaticcorner.com/downloads.html 

Latin

• Shoutcast.com. Type in Latin or Mexican in the search box.

Russian music

• http://www.101.ru/?an=rus_songs_eng
• http://www.101.ru/?an=index_eng

Serbian Orthodox Choral Chants

• http://www.listen.to/chants

Movies

• Hulu.com.  This is the future of television and movies.  Unlike YouTube, the quality of the imagery is much better and there is a huge selection.  Highly recommended.   (New 5/09) 
• Youtube.com is no doubt the most impressive of the online movie publishing Web sites.  As usual, 98% of their content is pure junk and a waste of time.  The remaining 2% can be very interesting.  For example, expect to videos of police brutality, disasters, and timely video to show up here first. 

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